Flight Of 5 Locks On The Former Somersetshire Coal Canal

ST 76 SW 6/222

SOUTH STOKE Flight of 5 Locks on the Former Somersetshire Coal Canal

II

Five disused locks. Circa 1805. The surveyor for the Canal Company was William Smith, 'Father of British Geology'. Engineer for this flight originally of 19 locks (four are now buried or destroyed and ten are in the adjoining parish of Combe Hay) was probably William Bennet. The locks are of standard dimensions, approximately 70 feet long by 7 feet wide. Ashlar retaining walls survive to about 10-12 feet high (some are in a poor condition); the entrance and exit walls are battered and splayed. Some remains of sluices and culverts. The fourth lock from the west retains a milestone on the north-west side; a cast iron plate (now missing) read 4/MILES. These five locks, as part of the original flight of 19, represent the final, successful attempt to achieve the change in level on the Paulton branch of the canal. Two former attempts - a caisson lock, and an inclined plane with 3 lower locks - had failed. (K.R. Clew, The Somersetshire Coal Canal and Railways, Country Life, 6.IV.1951.).

Listing NGR: ST7441760592